Zero Sum Game
by The Uncreative
Summary: In a world where games decide everything, what can a girl with awful luck and a zero percent win rate hope to accomplish?


**Author Notes:**

So um... This happened. And unlike every other story idea that floats in my head I have no idea where this came from. It just sort of happened. The idea for turning Halkgenia into a world similar to the game obsessed world of No Game No Life just seemed perfect. I mean come one, it was a perfect fit. It was shockingly easy to take Louise with her zero percent success rate at casting spells and translate that to a stunning zero win record. It just fit so well. I also just had a lot of fun writing this. Well, except for the chess game. That was tricky to write. For the first part of it I had a chessboard next to me and mapped out how the game was going to go. ... My god, was that a chore. The chapter was reaching a pretty decent length anyway, so I just did what you saw at the end there. No more chess. No more chess games for the rest of this story. We've got cards, word games, coin games, anything except chess games. Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun with thinking up where the story goes from here. Look forward to future chapters! This is The Uncreative, signing off for now. See you next time, enjoy the story!

* * *

**Name: Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere.  
**

**Age: Sixteen years old.**

**Most Notable Bet: Once bet everything she owned (one wand, one shirt, one skirt, one mantle, one pair of socks, one set of shoes and one set of underclothes) on a coin flip.**

**Occupation: Is currently enrolled as a student at the Tristain Academy of Magic.**

**Number of Recorded Victories since Attendance Began: Zero.**

**Prologue**

Louise eyed her hand very carefully. It was taking every ounce of willpower she had to not break down. A two of diamonds, a six of clubs, a jack of diamonds, a nine of hearts and an ace of spades. In other words:

"An awful hand," she whispers to herself.

"Oh? What's the matter Louise?" Her opponent, Kirche, asked. "Bad hand?"

"My cards are perfectly fine I'll have you know!" Louise yells. "Just gotta redraw these two."

Louise discards the nine and ace and draws two more cards. A ten of hearts and a three of spades. Louise doesn't bother hiding her disappointment and allows her forehead to collide with the table with a loud and painful thud.

"I fold," Louise announces.

"Isn't that a relief!" Kirche says, putting her cards back in the deck. "All I had was a pair of twos. Any hand could have beaten it really."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Louise shouts her frustrations into the table.

"Good to see that your luck still holds out, Zero," Kirche says with a smile.

"Shut up Kirche," Louise says, head still resting on the table. She sighs in frustration. "Okay, you won. What do you want?"

"Hmmm, I think I'll pack this favor away for later," Kirche says, taking out a notebook and writing down a note. "A guaranteed favor has a lot of uses, doesn't it?"

"One more!" Louise declares. "One more game, I'll beat you this time, I swear!"

"You sure about that?" Kirche asks. "You don't have the greatest win ratio, darling."

"I have to win sometime!" Louise declares. "By this point all of my bad luck should have been used up, so I can only be lucky from this point on, right? That being the case, we'll play a game that's only luck."

"Coin flip?" Kirche asks.

"Coin flip," Louise confirms.

"Alright then," Kirche says. "And the rules?"

"What rules? Coin flips are coin flips!" Louise says. "Just grab a coin, flip it and call it."

"Any coin?" Kirche asks.

"Any coin, so hurry up!" Louise says. "If I win you have to tell everyone in the academy that I finally beat you in a game."

"And if I win..." Kirche puts a hand to her chin and starts thinking. "How about your panties?"

"M-m-my what?! What are you planning on doing with my underwear?" Admittedly Louise was not certain she wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Hmmmmm. Who knows?" Kirche says with a smile and a shrug, making Louise feel far worse about the bet. Kirche reaches into her pocket and pulls out a single gold coin. "Ready to play?"

Louise nods.

"Aschente," both parties declare. Kirche readies the coin and flips it into the air.

"Heads," Kirche calls.

"T-tails!" Louise begs, crossing her fingers. You may have had a fifty percent chance of losing a coin toss, but that meant you had just as high a chance of winning. Louise prayed to every being she could think of that would help to tip the scales just ever so slightly in her favor. The coin lands on the back of Kirche's hand whereupon she covers it with her other hand.

"Ready?" Kirche asks.

"Just show it already!" Louise yells.

Kirche simply smiles somewhat sadly and shows the coin. Louise's mood instantly turns as sour as it could ever possibly turn.

"Looks like I win darling," Kirche says, still smiling.

"And I swore by the ten pledges so I can't go back on my bet." Louise sighs. She reaches under her skirt, removes her panties and hands them over to Kirche who promptly sticks them in her pocket. Louise shudders at the thought of her eternal rival now holding onto a pair of her underwear. Or maybe she was shuddering because a breeze just blew past and it was rather chilly.

"A one in two shot at victory and I can't even pull that off," Louise bemoans her luck.

"There's your problem Darling," Kirche says. "You thought you had a fifty percent chance of victory when it was really zero the entire time."

"I-I'm not a zero!" Louise roars. Louise's imminent rage is temporarily subsided when she sees something shiny coming towards her. "Huh?"

She catches it on instinct and notices that it's the coin that was just used in the coin flip just now. She sees the portrait of a king on one side, then turns it over and sees the portrait of a king. Meaning...

"A misprint?" Louise asks. "Both sides are heads so... A-ah! You cheated!"

"It's not cheating, it's playing within a very unspecified set of rules," Kirche corrects.

"It's against the spirit of the pledges if one side has an unfair advantage! You cheated!" Louise accuses, pointing at Kirche. "That means the victory goes to me!"

"It was a completely legal move," Kirche defends. "I specifically asked before the match if we could use any coin and you said yes. Misprints are still coins, aren't they? Nothing about what I did was illegal and nothing about it was cheating."

"B-but... But..."

"Louise, want some advice from a good friend of yours?" Kirche asks.

"I would love some. Damn shame no one at the academy fits that description," Louise deadpans.

"How rude!" Kirche feigns sadness. "I'm hurt, Louise. Wounded, even. Let me help out a little. If you aren't certain you can win a game that you can't afford to lose, then just mess with the rules a bit until they assure you victory. Get it?"

"If I can't win then cheat so much that it loops around into playing fair, that about right?" Louise asks.

"Not even! Oh, whatever. I'm going to go play some games against Tabitha. See if I can con her into betting to spend less time reading and more time with you or me."

"Why am I included in that?" Louise asks.

"She likes you, you know," Kirche says. "Or at least spending time with you."

"Riiiiiight. I'll believe that. I need to go. Thanks to a certain someone's bet I'm left without any spare underwear so I need to run into town and buy more."

"That was your only pair?" Kirche asks.

"You're not the only one who enjoys the luxury of a guaranteed win," Louise replies coldly before walking towards the stables to rent a horse.

It only took a few hours before Louise had made it into town. It would have taken slightly less, but traffic was unusually heavy.

"Why is everyone even heading towards town? Is today something special?" Louise wonders aloud. She puts a hand to her chin and thinks long and hard. "Oh! Right! The tournament to determine the next ruler is today."

Louise was very vocal in her disapproval of this particular system, but the opinions of one girl with a zero percent win rate meant very little. It was how the world worked, games decided everything. Personal grudges, debts, even territory and status. When the old king or queen died, a tournament was held and the winner became the next ruler, regardless of whether or not the previous ruler had any heirs. It was stupid, Louise thought, because it meant that there was only a very low chance of the winner being someone who was actually raised from birth to be ruler. There was a much higher chance of some poor, unprepared soul stumbling through the first few rounds and getting lucky in the end. Such victories were nearly the death of Tristain and why it was the smallest and weakest of the world's powers.

"Honestly, they should just let Henrietta take the throne," Louise says. "She's the old king's daughter, after all. She'd be perfect for it. I wonder how she's doing?"

Louise thought about her old childhood friend for a bit. The young princess had tried her best to help Louise improve her gambling skills to no avail, but Louise still appreciated the effort to this day.

"Maybe I'll write her a letter when I get back to the academy," Louise muses. "No guarantees it would make it through, but I wouldn't mind talking with her again. First thing's first. The reason I came into town in the first place."

Louise found a post she could tie her steed too and dismounted, taking extra caution when dealing with her skirt. Fortunately for her, the streets were packed shoulder to shoulder with people, so the odds of anyone noticing her were extremely low. Considering her history with low odds, she wasn't sure if she could feel confident about keeping her modesty.

Louise was able to worm her way past all the crowds and into a nearby clothing store. She bought several pairs of panties and made her exit as quickly as possible. Her next step was to find somewhere where she could change inconspicuously. The clothing store's changing rooms were a possibility, but she'd rather not be accused of trying to shoplift a decent pair of panties. ... For the fourth time.

Louise carefully worked her way through the crowd, but stopped moving when she heard some cheering. Curiosity overwhelmed her and she looked to see what everyone was so excited over. The royal tournament surely, but who was playing? Louise wormed her way through the crowds and saw the two players. They were sitting at a chessboard (_So that's what they're playing this time_, Louise observed.) with one side being very clearly dominated by the other. Well, domination is really all it can be called when one side has three queens, both rooks, a knight, a bishop and a king in play while the opposing side has two pawns and their king as their sole remaining forces. The winning player was clearly toying with their opponent and dragging it out. At least for a few more moves. It was really only a matter of how, not when, she would decide to go for the checkmate. A king flanked by a queen on both sides, as well as a rook right in front of him won't last much longer. The loser collapses on the table, and the winner stands, dusts off her dress and bows to the crowd, setting off energetic yells throughout the crowd.

"The winner!" The referee says, placing a small tiara upon her head. "Henrietta de Tristain!"

_Of course_, Louise thinks. _Chess was always her best game. She always was a very good tactician. Not that chess needs much tactics, it really is just kind of like a bigger version of tic tac toe. Just with, like... A million more moves available._

Henrietta basks in the glory for a while longer, clearly happy with what she's accomplished. Her look of glee briefly turns into surprise, then genuine joy and happiness. She runs towards someone in the crowd and grabs her in as tight of an embrace as she possibly can.

"Louise! Is that really you?"

_I believe that's a prime example of questions that should be asked_ before _hugging someone_, Louise thinks.

"Y-yes," Louise says, awkwardly returning the hug. "Good to see you Princess. Um... P-perhaps we can go somewhere else?"

Henrietta is confused by the suggestion. Or rather _was_ confused by the suggestion until she noticed all the strange looks they were receiving.

"Go on, shoo!" Henrietta says, waving them off. "Tournament's over, go home everyone!"

Despite a few protests and general disappointment, the crowd did eventually disperse leaving Louise and Henrietta alone.

"Oh, Louise, it's been so long!" Henrietta says, smiling. "How have you been? Do you still have that streak or have you finally won a game?"

"It certainly has been a while, I've been fine, and no," Louise answers in order. "Still at zero wins."

"Really? But it's been so long! Surely you've managed to win something," Henrietta says.

"Nope. Nothing. Coin flips, poker, tic tac toe, games of skill, games of luck, nothing," Louise laments.

"What about chess?" Henrietta asks. "That's your best game, isn't it? I taught you everything I knew!"

"We were six. You taught me that the pony moves two up and one to the side, and that castling is a thing."

"Like I said, I taught you everything I knew!" Henrietta says. The two friends both share a laugh.

"Speaking of chess, that was the game for the tournament this time, was it?" Louise asks.

"Yes, it was," Henrietta says. "They were considering making it poker, since a ruler needs to be able to keep their cool when dealt even the most awful hand imaginable, sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally, but they went with chess since it required more strategy and less luck. I think it was a great call. There are some people who could make brilliant rulers, but would get knocked out of the tournament easily thanks to horrible luck. This way who wins and who loses is a result of an actual competition. Plus it's a lot harder to cheat at chess then poker. There's millions of ways to cheat at poker without getting caught. It's slightly tougher when it comes to chess."

"I mean, I can't think of any way you could," Louise says. "What would you do? Move a piece slightly to one side? I don't know, seems far more trouble then it's worth. You said the tournament was over, right?"

"Indeed," Henrietta confirms. "What you just saw was the grand finals. She was a good opponent. I almost had to work hard against her. Unfortunately she failed to pay attention to my pawns and I was able to promote them right under her nose. If she had been more proactive with taking those pieces I may not have made it."

"Please, don't talk so badly about yourself," Louise says. "You surely would have found a way. So this means you're the queen, correct?"

"Thanks to my victory, I am now the rightful queen of Tristain," Henrietta confirms. "Unofficially anyway. Nothing is set in stone until the official crowning ceremony, and we'll have to work out the details with for that later, but I am the queen, and word will spread quickly enough."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty," Louise says with a kneel.

"Louise, please. Don't be so formal," Henrietta says. "We're friends, are we not?"

"Friends or not, I am currently in the presence of royalty," Louise says.

"Okay, game time then," Henrietta says, pulling a coin out of her pocket. "Heads you stop being so formal, tails you can do what you want."

Without even waiting for Louise to reply she flips the coin. It lands on the back of her hand and she covers it. She slowly uncovers it, revealing it to have landed heads side up. Henrietta breathes a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank the founders," she says. "The one time I was hoping for your awful luck to hold out."

"Y-your majesty!" Louise complains.

"Oh, relax, I'm just poking a little fun," Henrietta says with a giggle.

"Your majesty!" A third voice calls.

Ah, Cardinal Mazarin," Henrietta addresses the newcomer. "How are you doing today?"

"Your majesty, I am terribly sorry to interrupt but we must get you back to the castle," the cardinal says. "We must begin planning the official ceremony at once."

"Oh, that," Henrietta says, sounding very disinterested. "Cardinal, I realize that it's important, but being here with my closest friend whom I haven't seen in years is a bit more important to me at the moment. Can it wait just a little bit longer?"

"Hen- Your majesty," Louise says, ignoring how red her face is thanks to Henrietta's comment. "By all means, attend to your duties. They are rather important. Tristain needs a queen. It would simply not do to have your reign begin by shirking your responsibilities, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't," Henrietta pouts. "Fine, I should do that. On one condition. Louise, play a game with me. It's been so long since we just sat down and played a game together."

"Didn't we just flip a coin?" Louise asks.

"That hardly counts as a game!" Henrietta exclaims. "I mean an actual, official game. You still like chess, right?"

"I'm fond of it, yes," Louise confirms.

"Perfect!" Henrietta says in joy. She walks over to the table she was sitting at just a few minutes ago, takes a seat and starts setting up the board. Louise follows her lead and sits across from her.

"Cardinal, would you mind being the referee?" Henrietta asks. "It just wouldn't be official without one."

The cardinal looks ready to protest, but simply sighs deeply.

"If it will get you back to the castle sooner, then very well. I'll play along, your majesty," the Cardinal tells her.

"Perfect!" Henrietta says joyfully. "For simplicities sake, let's just use the official tournament rules. I can't stand speed chess, or those other inane variations."

"Y-your majesty!" The cardinal interrupts. "You realize that tournament rules means-"

"Hush cardinal," Henrietta says. "I know what I'm doing. It'll be fine. Does that sound okay Louise?"

"Um... It would, but I didn't actually play in the tournament so-"

"It's okay, I understand," Henrietta says with a reassuring smile. "It's simple. It's just normal chess, really. We have the same number of pieces, set up in the standard placing. Take as much time as you need to make a move, there's no time limit, though this also naturally means that you can't take any moves back. All moved pieces are final. Castling, en passant and promotion are all fair game."

_Oh perfect, I can use my six year old self's knowledge to win it_, Louise thought.

"Understand?" Henrietta asks.

"Understood," Louise responds.

"Very well. Aschente."

"Aschente."

"You're playing white, so you may go first," Henrietta tells her.

Lost thinks about her first move carefully and opt to play it safe by moving her leftmost pawn forward two spaces. Henrietta responds by making a mirror move, locking the two in a stalemate. Louise moves the pawn in front of her king forward one space, while Henrietta moves her queenside knight two forward and one to her left. Louise decides to move her queenside rook to directly behind her first pawn. Henrietta moves the pawn directly in front of her queen forward, freeing either her queen or bishop to move in the future. Louise's queenside knight moves up and to the right, while Henrietta moves her bishop into position to take Louise's queen. Louise doesn't seem to notice, and moves her rightmost pawn forward once, putting it in a position to take the bishop should Henrietta not move it. Unfortunately she does, and takes Louise's queen.

"Ah!" Louise cries out.

"It pays to always be attentive to every piece, not just your own," Henrietta lectures Louise. "The entire game can be won or lost due to a simple careless mistake."

"Y-yeah but... But now I can do this!" Louise says, moving her knight from earlier to take the bishop.

"Congratulations, you took my bishop. Was it worth losing your queen?" Henrietta asks, slightly mocking Louise's less then stelar start.

"Of course!" Louise declares. "I don't even need a queen to win! I'm fine without one!"

"I'm sure you are," Henrietta says. "I was just checking to make sure that was intentional."

"O-of course it was!" Louise claims. "I never make a single move without meaning too! This is all part of my grand strategy! You'll see!"

"I certainly hope so," Henrietta says with a smile.

_I'm sorry Louise_, Henrietta thinks. _Even against a friend I'm not willing to go easy. Mercy is never a good thing to make a habit of handing out. Plus I need to end this quickly to keep all the people at the castle happy. Hmmm, what would be the best way to finish this? Perhaps I should wait a few more turns, start getting a read on her play style. It'll be far easier to trap her pieces once I figure out how she thinks. Go ahead Louise, I'll let you get a few moves in just to see how well you plan this out._

Henrietta moved a right rook one space to the left and waited for Louise's move.

_Um... Maybe I can castle? No, that won't work. It won't let me do anything, and I can't even do that yet._ Louise was confused. She settled on moving her rightmost pawn.

Henrietta moves her second from her right pawn forward twice.

_Perfect_, Henrietta thinks. _There's a clear line between this pawn and her bishop. Once she moves and takes it all I need to do is capture the bishop with my rook. A pawn for her bishop seems good to me._

Louise looks at the state of the board and draws a connection between those two pieces with her gaze.

_I could get her pawn with bishy_, Louise thinks. _Would that be a good idea? I don't want any of her pawn promoting so... I'm gonna do it._

Louise moves her hand to grab a piece and Henrietta smirks. Louise moves her leftmost pawn and captures the one Henrietta just moved.

"Eh?" Henrietta is confused.

"I was going to take it with Bishy, but Leopold seemed far more useful for the task," Louise says.

"... You name your chess pieces?" Henrietta asks.

Louise blushes intensely. "I-It's just a habit! I was six when I started and it's just stuck with me."

"Louise."

"Yes?"

"What's the queen's name?" Henrietta asks, completely serious.

"... Louise."

Henrietta starts laughing hysterically, and even the Cardinal is stifling some chuckles.

"Sh-shut up!" Louise yells. "I was six! Didn't everyone want to be a queen or king at that age? J-just focus on the game!"

Henrietta is brought down from her laughing fit instantly as she analyzes her situation.

_Right, Louise avoided my trap. I can't say I didn't expect it, that was an option but I was certain I had caught her with that when she saw she could take it. A-ah! Her pawn can take my knight! I can stop that with my rook, but then she's free to capture it. Clever girl, has she really gotten that good at this game since we last played? Henrietta began thinking about every move she could make even harder._

_Um... What do I do now?_ Louise was helplessly lost.

Henrietta decided to risk it and capture the pawn with her rook. In the grand scheme, the knight could be far more useful for trapping the enemy king. She could afford to lose one rook. And lose one rook she did, as Louise moved and took it with her bishop. It was at this point that Henrietta mentally slapped herself.

_I'm so stupid! I just could have moved the knight back into position! I didn't have to lose my rook! What a stupid mistake. You're a queen Henrietta, you can't make stupid mistakes! I can't even move the knight now because my king will be in check! I'm so stupid! Wait, I think I can save it._

Henrietta moved her king right next to the horse. If Louise took the knight then her own bishop would be lost. Louise though long and hard about it and decided that he runs away lives to fight another day, choosing to move her bishop down right three squares.

_Good move_, Henrietta mentally congratulates her opponent. _Sometimes defensive is the best move, as I should clearly learn. Don't get too cocky though, the real game starts right now! Get ready Louise! I won't go easy on you!_

_I hope this game ends soon_, Louise thought to herself. _It's far breezier then it should be._

The game did not end soon. It went on for another forty five minutes give or take. Henrietta was left with her king, three pawns, a knight, and a bishop. Louise was left with a king (she called him Henry and he had yet to get off his throne, so to speak), her rook, (Galahad), one pawn that as dangerously close to the end of the board (Geoffrey), and her light bishop (Bishy).

"I'll give you this Louise," Henrietta begins, "you are certainly a rather frightening opponent. To bring me down to this little manpower whilst avoiding every trap I've set up for you is truly astounding. Not many can claim that. How befitting of my best friend."

"Eh? You've been laying traps?" Louise asks. "You can do that in this game? I thought all you did was move the pieces around."

"N-no, I mean like using pieces of bait to get you to make a bad move and then I can capitalize on it," Henrietta explains. "Are you telling me you never noticed?"

"Not once," Louise admits. "I thought you just weren't taking the game all that seriously since the tournament's over."

"Back with the pawn that you were supposed to take with your bishop but captured with your pawn instead?"

"Why wouldn't I use the pawn, it was right there."

"The bishop that was going to take your rook? It was supposed to move one left so my other bishop could have gotten it."

"Why wouldn't I move the rook back to it's old spot? It was nice and safe in the corner."

"When my queen had your king in check. You were supposed to block with another piece or move."

"Isn't it easier to just take the queen?"

"You're impossible," Henrietta says, her forehead hitting the table and rattling all the pieces. She starts laughing not long after. "I suppose that's half the fun. I must say, this is the most enjoyment I've gotten from a game in a long time. Shall we begin the climax?"

"Gladly," Louise says. "Your move, I believe."

Henrietta ponders, then moves her king forward and right one, putting in line with her two pawns at her leftmost edge of the board. Hmm, not a perfect place, but it should work. If nothing else the pawns can make for good meatshields.

"A-ah! Finally!"

"What is it Louise?" Henrietta asks.

In response Louise grabs her rightmost rook and king and moves them, swapping them around.

"Castling!" Louise declares proudly, puffing her flat chest out for bravado. "Now Sir Galahad has you in check!"

"Indeed he does," Henrietta says, smiling at her friend's name for her piece. "Hmmm."

_I could simply move to the right, but the rook can follow me and get me trapped at the other end of the board. Perhaps I should retreat behind the pawn shield I just set up. Then I can use my bishop and put her king in check so she won't be able to pursue me immediately and I'll have more time to set up a proper exit strategy. Let's do that._

Henrietta moves her king back and left once, placing it firmly behind her pawn. Her king is now stuck in the back row, with it's only movement option being to the left once more space.

_That should be safe for now. Even if her rook chases me down it would be close enough for my king to take. But what do I do next? Hmm, I'll put her king in check next move, but what then? Henrietta wonders. Perhaps I should move this other pawn move forward so I have an escape route should things not turn out spectacularly. After that I should have the knight guard one of the pawns so I can get it to the other side of the field and turn it into a queen. Doing that would also allow me to put her king in check provided she doesn't move it. This pawn here is only two moves away from the other side so it should be perfectly able to make it. Alright, so next turn I'll move my bishop, then my knight to provide cover then being my pawn's march to promotion. That should wo-_

"Check," Louise announces.

"E-eh? Excuse me?" Henrietta asks, having been shaken from her mental preparation.

"Check," Louise repeats, pointing to the queen she has placed on the final rank.

"Where did that queen come form?!" Henrietta asks. "Didn't it die in the beginning of the game?"

"She did," Louise says. "My pawn was only one space away from promoting though. I thought you would have noticed. Wait, is this a trap? You're luring me into making a mistake?"

_That's doesn't matter now Louise, Henrietta thinks. I can't move my king further inward, that's just moving to the left and doesn't actually allow me to escape her queen. I'll just move forward right and... W-wait a minute. If I move forward right and out of her queen's range then her rook will get me. N-no problem, I'll just take out her queen right now. What do I have that can do that? Not the pawn, and the knight's in no position to do that. She's on a light space and my only bishop left is dark. Th-that means..._

"C-c-c-c-c-c-c-checkmate," Henrietta forces the word out.

"Wh-what?!" Louise exclaims. "How?! How'd you get me?"

"No Louise," Henrietta says darkly. "Not you, me. I'm in checkmate. I can't do anything. If I move my king left or right then your queen gets me. If I move in my only other available direction, forward right, then your rook gets me. And I don't have any pieces that can take out your queen. It's my loss."

"Th-that means... Means..."

A huge smile, far brighter then any smile Henrietta had ever seen, crosses Louise's face. She gets out of her chair and starts hopping up and down in joy.

"I did it! I did it! I won! I finally won! I'm not a zero anymore! I finally won a game!" Louise starts exclaiming at the top of her lungs. "Yeeeeeeesss!"

"Your- ahem. Henrietta," the Cardinal corrects. "You understand-"

"I do," she confirms. "Tournament rules, and I swore by the ten pledges so there's no way for me to get around it."

Henrietta walks over to Louise, who is still bouncing and shouting about how happy she is and how she can't wait to tell her family all about it. Henrietta reaches up, grabs the tiara that was recently placed on her head. She places it on Louise's head, who promptly stops bouncing.

"Eh?" Louise is confused.

"All hail Queen Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere," Henrietta says, adopting a kneeling stance once she finishes.

"... Eh?" Louise is helplessly lost.

"Louise, we played using the official tournament rules," Henrietta explains, still kneeling. "The rules say that the loser is expelled from the tournament, no rematches or redoes allowed, and whoever is ultimately left at the top is crowned ruler. That was to be me, since I won the tournament. However, they also state that the winner isn't queen until she is officially crowned during the ceremony. At any point before the crowning ceremony she can be challenged. If she loses, she loses the right to the crown. I challenged you and I lost. As such, provided you don't play anyone else before the ceremony, you are to be crowned queen of Tristain. Congratulations Louise."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty," the Cardinal says as well. "We should be off. They will be expecting the queen-to-be any second now. We need to begin planning the crowning ceremony so something like this doesn't happen again."

"... Eeeeeeh?" Louise has been broken.

**Name: Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere.**

**Age: Sixteen years old.**

**Most Notable Bet: Once played against her childhood friend, the soon-to-be queen, with winner taking the crown.**

**Occupation: Was enrolled as a student at the Tristain Academy of Magic.**

**Number of Recorded Victories since Attendance Began: One.**


End file.
